174 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Garden at Darmstadt. We have about half a dozen small plants 

 which have reached us from three or four different quarters, the 

 tallest of these, 3 ft. 6 in. high, I owe to the kindness of Sir Frederick 

 Moore, of Glasnevin. This oak is slow growing in its early stages, 

 and has not yet taken hold with me. Mr. F. R. S. Balfour collected 

 acorns in the prairie lands south of Tacoma, Washington, and later 

 on distributed plants to me and others. I should much doubt if 

 there is as yet a plant 20 ft. high to be found anywhere in Europe. 

 No account of this species appears in " Trees of Great Britain," pre- 

 sumably because in or about 1910, when that work was written, this 

 oak could hardly be said to be in cultivation in Europe. 



Q. Gilliana (Rehder et Wilson). — This is one of Wilson's recent 

 introductions from China, and consequently does not appear in any 

 botanical work with which I am acquainted, except " Plantae Wilsoni- 

 anae," vol. hi. pp. 223-4. I* * s there described as a small tree or shrub 

 with purple-brown twigs and leathery evergreen spiny leaves, oval 

 or obovate in shape, having a yellowish or greyish-brown felt on the 

 under-side. It is found in the form of scrub " in arid parts of the 

 Tung River valley, and in those of its tributaries in Western Szechuan." 

 It is such a new-comer that as yet it is impossible to predict what 

 character it may assume under conditions quite unnatural to it in 

 the strong clay of Aldenham. It is named after Captain W. J. Gill, 

 who travelled in Western China in 1877, and frequently refers to 

 the " holly-leaved oak " in his book, " The River of Golden Sand." 

 My plant, which I owe to the kindness of Professor Sargent, is 2 ft. 

 6 in. high. 



Q. glabra (Thunberg). — I bought my plant some six years ago 

 from Messrs. Veitch, when, to the regret of all tree-lovers, they were 

 winding-up their business. It is now, or rather was last year, a low, 

 broad shrub 3 ft. high with a spread of 4 ft. ; in good health, but giving 

 no indication that it can ever be more than a large bush. Bean 

 writes of it as " better adapted for the milder parts of the country," 

 but up to 1919 it did not suffer from frost, though it had had two 

 very bad winters to contend v/ith. 



With its shining, oval, evergreen leaves it produces an effect 

 somewhat similar to that of Q. acuta, but with that exception is quite 

 distinct from any other oak with which I am acquainted. It is 

 certainly not nearly so hardy as that species, and when we registered 

 33 0 of frost in February 1919, most of the wood was killed, and it was 

 most seriously though not fatally injured, whereas Q. acuta in a similar 

 and neighbouring site escaped scot-free. It was introduced into Europe 

 during the first half of the nineteenth century, and is consequently * 

 fairly often to be seen in gardens. There is a fine specimen of this 

 oak at Bicton, near Exeter, of which my friend Mr. Bean gives me 

 the measurements last April as being — height, 20 ft.; girth, 2 ft. 2 in. ; 

 diameter of branches, 20 ft. 



Q. glandulifera (Bliime). — This Chinese or Japanese deciduous 

 oak was introduced to England by Professor Sargent in 1893. It 



